Hand Trucks and Casters: What To Do When You Don’t Really Know What You Need

Hand trucks are one of the greatest and most commonly used pieces of material handling equipment currently available. They are commonly used in residential, commercial, and industrial environments. However, not all hand trucks are created equal and there are a variety of them on the market. Each offers customers a different level of quality and functionality, which can make it difficult to choose the one that will work best for you. Douglas Equipment sells all kinds of material handling equipment for light tasks as well as heavy duty ones. We’re here to help you determine what hand truck will meet your needs based on the project at hand.

Douglas Equipment has been in business in South Florida since 1955. That’s almost 60 years of selling material handling equipment and casters. As you can expect, we have quite a bit of experience and have become leaders in our field due to our commitment to our customers and our hard earned product knowledge over the years. We primarily service hospitality, hospital, and industrial trades; however, we believe that residential customers need someone in their corner as well. We can ship anywhere in the United States and, thanks to our location in South Florida, we’re able to offer rapid shipping to clients in the Caribbean and South American markets as well.

When selecting a hand truck and its accompanying casters, it’s best to consider several things.

1. Task – Consider how you will be using a hand truck. Do you need it around your house to move boxes or awkwardly shaped objects? If so, you should consider one of our Wesco economy hand trucks, which come in a variety of designs. We have standard sized economy hand trucks, but we also have economy hand trucks with wider plates for large objects as well as a folding nose option for easy storage.

If you own a moving company and require something a little tougher, we sell Wesco appliance hand trucks. These hand trucks are designed to handle the weight and dimensions of refrigerators, washers, dryers, and other appliances. The trucks are tough and rugged enough to take a beating and keep on going. Additionally, we sell vending hand trucks as well. These hand trucks are very similar to our appliance hand trucks, but they are sized to handle the unique dimensions (height, width, and depth) of a vending machine.

For something more appropriate to the industrial environment, we also offer the heavy duty warehouse hand trucks. These hand trucks can handle much heavier weight and can come with four wheel kick outs to help create additional mobility and ensure worker safety. These hand trucks are great for heavy duty moving.

We also sell specialty hand trucks that are designed for the jobs standard trucks can’t handle, such as the professional single cylinder hand truck, which are specifically designed for drum cylinders.

2. Capacity – Possible the second most important thing you need to consider is how much weight you’ll be moving at a time. Our economy hand trucks can hold typically 500 pounds, however, if you need to move heavier items, then you’ll want to consider another option. For example, our Wesco Heavy Duty Warehouse Trucks can hold upwards of 900 pounds.

3. Wheels – When considering your hand truck, you may wish to consider what wheels would perform best in your work environment. Should you work in hospitality or a hospital, you might wish to consider pneumatic or semi pneumatic wheels for your hand trucks because they are very quiet and won’t disturb guests. Their rubber tread also makes for extremely smooth transport.

Another great factor about pneumatic or semi pneumatic wheels is that they are highly shock absorbent and can easily maintain balance. They are also highly effective on uneven or chipped flooring.

Unfortunately, pneumatic or semi pneumatic wheels are not always able to cut the mustard on a hand truck. Since pneumatic wheels are filled with air they are more vulnerable to damage at heavier weights, which is why we use moldon rubber wheels on many of our 900 pound capacity hand trucks Moldon rubber wheels are typically soft or hard rubber molded onto an iron or steel core. This allows the wheel to absorb more shock and weight while the rubber wheel allows for quiet transport and floor protection.

4. Hand Truck Weight – Whatever your requirements are for your hand trucks, you want them to be safe for your workers. That’s why we sell the Wesco Cobra Lite Aluminum hand truck models, which are light and easy to handle but tough enough to get the job done. They generally weigh around 27.5 pounds, which makes them an attractive option because they’re easily and safely moved and stored. They are available with semi-pneumatic wheels which allows for greater stability, shock absorbency, and balance.

Top Notch Customer Service for Hand Truck Selection

These are just a few pointers for our clients who are considering purchasing a hand truck. However, we’re not going to just give you the above information and let you take your chances when purchasing a hand truck. At Douglas Equipment, we believe that the customer is the most important part of our business. We’ve devoted a significant amount of resources to train our courteous and knowledgeable customer support staff.

Contact us today to discuss your material handling needs. We’ll be able to recommend certain models based on what kind of jobs you’ll need your hand trucks to perform and the environment in which they’ll need to do it. Whether you’re residential, commercial, or industrial, Douglas Equipment has the perfect material handling solution for you!